Newslinks for Friday March 16: From April USA will have world's highest corporate tax rate

Guess which country will soon have the highest corporate tax rate in the world?

Wall Street Journal: "April 1 is a date that every politician and business executive in America should circle on the calendar. That's when Japan cuts its corporate tax rate to 36.8% from 39.5%. The United States will then hold the title of highest corporate tax rate, with average combined federal and state profit levies of 39.2%."

Five Republican Senators call for a cut, cap and balance budget - Politico

Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post: President Obama incessantly claims energy open-mindedness, insisting that his policy is “all of the above.” Except, of course, for drilling...

Romney throws more resources at Illinois

"Mitt Romney has been favored to win in Illinois, thanks to his large financial advantage and a voter pool full of the sort of upper-income, educated Republicans who have backed him in prior contests. But the GOP presidential race is neck and neck ahead of Tuesday's primary, so Mr. Romney scheduled a visit to the state Friday, days earlier than expected, and his campaign and allies are making large advertising buys." - Wall Street Journal | Fox

When Gallup conducted a poll in January 2008, 35% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said that they would “vote for Romney enthusiastically.” Four years later, that percentage has not budged - WSJ

The Economist accepts Romney will win but says "how" he wins really matters: "So what's the point of covering this thing if, like Mr Douthat, you also find it far-fetched that the Republican Party would choose the second- or third-place finisher over the first if it comes down to a brokered convention? Well, how Mr Romney wins matters. Whether he runs across the finish line in May, or crawls across in June, or successfully negotiates an open convention, will affect his campaign going forward. The story of the primaries may no longer revolve around whether Mr Romney can be beaten, but the account of his humiliations—like failing to woo his party's base—on his way to victory is just as significant. And the more states Rick Santorum wins, the closer we are to having Mr Romney's would-be coronation degraded to a moment of bitter relief. So far from being a "predictable Republican primary", as Mr Douthat claims, the race is still quite compelling, even if we know who's going to come out on top."

Santorum becomes a leading conservative voice through campaign’s resurrection

“At a minimum, he is going to be a significant conservative voice on the national political landscape,” conservative activist Ralph Reed said. “For a while, he was still kind of feeling his way to find the message that would click with the voters. You could see that he was trying out lines and he wasn’t quite there yet. But before this is over, he may well be president or vice president — and that is pretty remarkable for a defeated former senator who thought his career was over.” - Washington Post

...But is Santorum REALLY the true-est conservative?

"While Santorum was a reliably conservative senator on social issues, he was not very conservative, for a Republican, on economic and fiscal issues. All of the four remaining contenders in the GOP presidential field are conservatives, but they are conservatives of different stripes. It is not accurate to describe Santorum as the most conservative of the four, or as the only “real” conservative in the group" - PowerLine

Gingrich enjoys attention after White House jabbed him on gas prices - LA Times

"The Obama White House moved fully into reelection mode this week, leaving aside any pretense of being above the fray and beginning an unabashed political effort to lay the groundwork for what polls suggest could be eight difficult months of campaigning ahead. Thursday seemed to mark a significant shift in approach and intensity, with overtly political speeches by President Obama and Vice President Biden and the release of a 17-minute documentary-style testimonial celebrating what the administration considers its most significant achievements." - Washington Post

The New York Times reviews Team Obama's Tom Hanks-narrated 17 minute documentary.

David Brooks in the New York Times says Obama has never become fully committed to challenges: "Obama has talked vaguely about tax reform. He has acknowledged the need for entitlement reform and major deficit reduction. But he has never thrown himself All In. He has never displayed an inner passion, a sense that these projects are his life mission, or a willingness to bear the pain that taking on these challenges necessarily entails."